Many portable electronic devices (such as cellular telephones, smart telephones, portable computers, portable personal digital assistants, and portable electronic gaming devices) provide access to PIM records, such as calendar events, task items, memos, or other personal information management data records. PIM records may be generated and managed in a variety of ways. For example, PIM records may be managed on another electronic device such as a desktop or personal computer. A synchronization server or centralized storage server may provide synchronization for a plurality of electronic devices. This may provide a convenient solution for a user to access PIM records from a plurality of electronic devices, including a portable electronic device. For example, PIM records may be generated through an input portion of the portable electronic device, generated on a personal computer synchronized with the portable electronic device, generated through a third party service, or automatically generated as a result of processing other PIM records. PIM records accessible to a portable electronic device may be stored in memory of the portable electronic device or in one or more servers accessible by the portable electronic device via a network.
PIM records often have reminders associated with them. A reminder configured in a PIM record may be used to alert the user regarding the PIM record. Existing reminders associated with PIM records include time based reminders and proximity based reminders. The purpose of these reminders is to notify the user regarding the PIM record for which the reminder is configured. Reminders for a PIM record are presented in a number of ways, such as visual, auditory, tactile, or various other sensorial presentations.
FIG. 1 provides examples of PIM records and reminders. In FIG. 1, a portable electronic device 100 has access to a plurality of PIM records, represented by a calendar PIM record 110, a proximity reminder 130, a task PIM record 150, and a generic PIM record 170. In FIG. 1, the PIM records are stored in a local database 102 in the memory of the portable electronic device 100. The portable electronic device 100 in FIG. 1 has a display on which various images, screens or windows may be reproduced. As shown, the portable electronic device 100 may reproduce a first example screen 101a and a second example screen 101b. 
A PIM record, such as calendar PIM record 110, may optionally include subject information 111, location data 112, date and time information 113, a time based reminder setting 114, and a list of attendees 115. A PIM record, such as proximity reminder 130, may include reminder text 131 and an identifier 132 of another portable electronic device. A PIM record, such as task PIM record 150, may optionally include a subject 151, status setting 152 of the task, a completion deadline 153, a time based reminder setting 154. Similar to task PIM record 150, a PIM record may also include a setting for linked persons 155. The setting for linked persons 155 may include, for example, a name of a person, a computer identifier associated with a contact PIM record for a person, a setting for delegating a portion of the task PIM record 150 responsibilities to another person, or any other information which might identify a contact associated with the task PIM record 150. Generic PIM record 170 is representative of other PIM records which might be generated, accessible or otherwise used by a portable electronic device. Generic PIM record 170 may include information elements 171 which may be associated with contact information, task information, event information, email information parts, memo information, or any other information which may be associated with Personal Information Management, PIM, records. It should be understood that calendar PIM record 110, proximity reminder 130, task PIM record 150, or any other PIM record described in this disclosure may be configured in various ways by combining or otherwise organizing the constituent information differently. Furthermore, PIM records may include additional information elements which are not explicitly described nor shown in FIG. 1.
In the first example screen 101a, a time based reminder 120 is displayed. In this example, the current time 105 is 2:45 pm. The time based reminder setting (e.g., setting 114 associated with calendar PIM record 110) in this example is configured to reminder the user regarding the calendar PIM record 110 approximately 15 minutes before the event, as determined by the date and time information 113. At 2:45 PM, because of the configured time based reminder setting 114, the example screen 101a is presenting the time based reminder 120, including event information 125 which is extracted from various information elements in the calendar PIM record 110.
In another example depicted in FIG. 1, a proximity based reminder 140 appears on example screen 101b of a portable electronic device 100. In this example, the portable electronic device may monitor (e.g., periodically, randomly, at regular intervals, etc.) for a radio frequency broadcast signal, such as Bluetooth™. Upon detection of a signal from a second portable electronic device, the portable electronic device may compare an identification or signature, carried in the signal from the second portable electronic device, to a proximity reminder 130 configured with an identifier 132 of the second portable electronic device. The proximity based reminder 140 may comprise reminder information 145 extracted from a proximity reminder 130 configured in the portable electronic device.
So long as the foregoing-described existing reminders are established, they are useful for their intended purpose. However, in the absence of reminders associated with PIM records, it may be difficult to identify opportunities to act on stored PIM records.